Ghost Legion
by The Less You See
Summary: I am Avalon DeVair, the newest Marquess in England and I am being forced to attend school by my Aunt, the Queen. Everything starts out well, but then girls start to turn up dead. Nobody ever sees anything and we can only count who's missing in the morning. Who could do this and why? REWRITTEN and much better than before.
1. Entrance

In the year 1889, in London, England, the Queen made a momentous decision regarding the education of the young elites of her country. For up to this point in history, only young boys were allowed into the top academies and schools, for they were the ones who would support their future families and businesses. As such, women were the ones to stay home and care for the children and manage the household affairs or attend special academies to train them in the proper ways to be a lady. However, after meeting her niece for the first time in over fifteen years - she had not seen her since she was three - she was pleasantly shocked to find a remarkably intelligent, beautiful young girl who was to become the new Marquess of the family DeVair after the deaths of her few remaining family members.

In order to support her niece in every way possible as she stepped into her role as a business woman and head of house, it was decided that top private schools would be opened to girls of the highest birth.

Weston College was the first of the schools to be changed to accept both genders. Four girls were admitted in the very beginning to become the female prefects of the houses. One for Scarlet Fox, one for Green Lion, one for Sapphire Owl, and one for Violet Wolf.

This event marked a new age in history and would change its course forever, but the changes in the eight prefects would be even more noticeably drastic.

Especially as students start to disappear.

And even more so as they turn up dead.

~X~

Weston Preparatory College for the rich and powerful, a sprawling campus with towering gothic buildings and beautiful commons. One of the most prestigious private academies in London at the time and the one that definitely had the highest tuition. All in all, not a bad school by any stretch of the imagination. Aunty could have picked as worse one.

Yeah, I'm a girl and the niece of Queen Victoria and one of the four noble girls to be chosen to head up this godforsaken movement. But I do get to have a decent education for once in my life, so I can't complain too much.

However, I still don't entirely understand the logic behind her decision. It was just so…I don't know, split second. She didn't seem to think about it at all before she announced, oh, by the way, I'm integrating the schools. I mean, jeez.

~X~

"_I'm very sorry for your loss, Avalon. My dearly departed sister and her husband will be sorely missed by everyone." Aunt Victoria whimpered, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes._

_I looked her in the eyes and took a quick, sharp breath before replying, "I know. They were incredible people and I can only hope that I will do my father justice as the Marquess of the DeVair family." Well, I doubt that I'll be able too, but I might as give her some comfort._

"_Of course you will, dear." She said reassuringly with a pat on the shoulder, "But I do have a question. Have you ever had any formal schooling?"_

"_No, I can't say that I have." _

_My suspicions about this entire situation were justified the moment when my Aunt got that strange gleam in her eyes that indicated she was going to try something that would probably not be entirely well liked by the elite of England. "Don't worry, my dear child. We can rectify all of this immediately!" Victoria exclaimed._

"_And how might we do that?" I asked cautiously, almost not wanting to hear the answer._

"_You'll go to school!"_

_Oh dear God…_

~X~

I do believe I laughed in her face after that little declaration, saying something along the lines of that is never going to happen. Not in this lifetime.

Well, I underestimated the old hag and now I'm here at the gates of Weston College, waiting for my friends to show up so we can enter together. I picked at my black nail polish, while I remembered when we were chosen for our houses.

~X~

_We had just walked into the Principal's office, which was missing something rather important._

_Its Principal._

_The Vice-Principal was sitting at the desk, though. I believe he said his name was Mr. Agares or something of the like._

"_Well, ladies. I'm sure you are aware of the precarious position you hold in this community as the first women to get a formal education at a private school. Each of you was chosen through very special criteria, your family's status, your level of intelligence, your physical abilities and your talents in the arts." _

_We all knew that and I'm sure all of us couldn't care less about it. I merely pulled the hood of my cloak down over my face a little more._

"_Audrey Deveraux."_

_Audrey was a very formal, very uptight person. She had studied martial arts and swordsmanship since she was old enough to support the equipment. Her hair was long and golden and she kept it pulled tightly back in a severe bun, tan skin, she was tall - probably about 6'0" - and she had quite a bit of muscle from all of the rigorous exercise that I couldn't ever imagine doing. She also acted more like some old lady than an actual teenage girl._

"_You will belong to the Green Lion House."_

_Oh, and she's betrothed to the prefect boy of Green House, Herman Greenhill._

"_Deirdre Smyth."_

_There is only one way to describe this girl, vain. With a capital V. Though she does have something of a right to be. She's immensely pretty, with flaxen hair, fair skin, a tiny build - even smaller than me - and her manners were nothing short of a lady's. Also, she's going to marry the prefect of the Red House, Edgar Redmond._

"_You will belong to the Scarlet Fox House."_

"_Jezebell Beaufort."_

_Also a very pretty girl. Shiny brown hair, tall, smart as any boy, fair skin, and polite and quiet. The model British noble wife. Well, except for the intelligence level. Engaged to the Blue House prefect, Lawrence Bluer._

"_You will belong to the Sapphire Owl House."_

"_Avalon DeVair."_

_I'm a rather simple girl. Black hair with whitish streaks, violet eyes, medium height, pale white skin, gothic make-up (black eyeliner, eye shadow, nail polish, etc). I'm smart, but more suited to be an artist than a bookworm. My art has already been showcased in some of the world's largest galleries. Though I think the most interesting part about being me is that I terrify most people to the point where they don't approach me at all. _

_Oh and I'm engaged to my best friend, the prefect of the Purple House, Gregory Violet._

"_You will belong to the Violet Wolf House."_

_Well, no surprise there. At least I get to focus on my painting without insane distractions._

~X~

"Avalon!" Deirdre called from a ways off down the road. I spun and saw her waving like a madwoman, while dancing down the street. Jezebell and Audrey weren't far behind. And luckily, they weren't acting like they should be committed.

It took about a minute before Deirdre actually reached me and assaulted me, knocking me to the ground. Somehow, she managed to land in my lap perfectly upright. Ugh.

"Hello, Deirdre." I muttered, countering her loud, ostentatious voice.

"Hello, Avalon! Are you excited about today? I am. I get to see Edgar and go to school for the first time as the student in charge! I'm so happy, I could cry! I just can't wait for school to start!" She said, barely pausing in between sentences for a breath, "Oh, I bet you just can't wait to see Gregory! I know you've missed him. Oh my gosh! I'm cutting off the blood flow to your legs aren't I! I'm so sorry, I'll get up now!" And she put her hands on my shoulders and pushed herself off of me.

At least I could feel my legs now, even though it hurt slightly as the blood began to circulate again. I stood up with the help of Audrey and brushed the dirt off of my trousers. Yes, trousers. The Vice-Principal actually gave us the choice to wear a skirt-suit or wear the traditional uniform of the school. Old habits die hard though, I guess, seeing as I was the only one wearing them.

At least I'm not stuck in one of those floor-length monstrosities.

I opened my mouth to ask Jezebell and Audrey if she had been like this the entire way over, but before I could get the words out, Jezebell giggled, "Yes, she has. If anything she was worse before she saw you."

"Of course she was. Ava's whole emo look would suck the joy out of anything." Audrey laughed.

"At least I don't look like a guy with long hair." I shot back albeit a bit quieter. Honestly, could Audrey and Deirdre be any louder. Well, I got one quiet one out of the three. Jezebell seems to understand my annoyance with loud noises, even if she doesn't get my hatred of the sun.

Oh, well.

Behind me, the school gates were pulled open just as the bells began to chime seven. I turned back to the girls and pulled my hood back up from where it had fallen when I was tackled.

"Shall we go?" Audrey asked.

"Let's do this!" Deirdre exclaimed happily and she raced in before the rest of us could respond. I just looked at Jezebell and she shrugged.

So we entered the school we would be living at for the next year. The grounds were crawling with boys that looked completely star struck at our appearance within the school, well, either that or shock and anger. I don't think they've quite decided yet.

All four of us ignored them though. I personally remained in the back of our little group while Deirdre danced ahead and crossed onto the lawn.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" A boy called out, running up to us, "Only prefects and those with the prefects permission can cross the lawn and what are you girls doing in our school?!" He seemed incredibly flustered as he realized we were girls, but held his ground still. Not bad.

If everyone wasn't staring at us already, they were by the time he'd finished yelling at us.

"Well, it's a good thing we're prefects then, right?" Deirdre sang, still spinning around like an idiot.

"Mmm, I suppose so." Audrey answered offhandedly, staring the boy down.

"Who are you?" Jezebell inquired, asking the question that was on all of our minds.

"I'm C-Clayton of the B-blue House. Y-you still h-haven't said what you g-girls are doing here." The poor boy - um, Clayton - stuttered, still obviously intimidated by our presence.

"We're Weston College's newest students, duh." Deirdre explained seeming a little annoyed with the brat.

"But you're girls." He stated as if that should explain his point all by itself.

"I do believe that we've known that for several years now, Clayton was it?" Audrey sighed.

"Yes and this is an all-boy's school."

"Not anymore, by order of the Queen Victoria."

"B-but-,"

"Oh, do please shut up. You're beginning to irritate me by repeating yourself over and over again. Find something more original to say or leave. You are making a scene and are making every one of us late to dormitory check-in." I interjected, feeling frustrated and bored with this arrogant jerk's argument.

He really did start when I spoke up this time. I don't even think he even registered that I was here in the first place. Clayton merely stood there slack-jawed, staring at me in disbelief. Honestly, you'd think he'd never seen anyone like me before and he attended school with Gregory.

"Y-you never did say who you were." He squeaked. My presence intimidated him. That's good.

"Did we not? Oh, pardon us. How terribly rude. We're-," Jezebell started, but before we could finish we hear a chorus of our names.

"Audrey?"

"Deirdre?"

"Jezebell?"

"Avalon?"

"What are you all doing here?" All four voices chorused at once.

We turned to face the original four prefects of the school. Herman Greenhill, Edgar Redmond, Lawrence Bluer, and Gregory Violet all stood there slack-jawed, staring at us. Well, everyone except Gregory. He just stood there wide-eyed.

Clayton stood there between us, eyes darting between us and the guys.

"What the heck is going on here?"

What a great question.

~X~

A/N: This chapter is officially rewritten! Yay! Now, I'm going to be rewriting the others as well and posting them soon enough. Hopefully _Ghost Legion_ will turn out better this time around.

Happy reading.

Love,

_Beaten and Bruised_


	2. Act One

And the boys finally make their appearance. Now, the normal students were staring at their betters, dumbstruck with the idea that they all knew four lowly girls like us.

"Hi guys!" Deirdre exclaimed, running over to Redmond. He was still in shock it seemed, but still reached out to catch her after she launched herself at him.

"Deirdre! What are you doing here?" He repeated.

"We're going to school, silly."

"Well, I can see that, but how did you get into an all-boy's institution?"

"Ava's Aunt Victoria decided that since she was going to be the new Marquess of her family, because all of her family died in that carriage accident, she should at least be somewhat educated with the goings-on of business. So since she got to come, to help her fit in better, she opened the school up to all girls of noble birth with a little ambition!" Deirdre sang, barely pausing for breath. After she finished her speech, she spun away from him and back towards us. Sometimes I wonder why she wasn't placed in Purple House, she definitely has the ability to excel at least in dancing and acting, but oh well, the principal decided on it.

"Really now? Is that so?" Redmond murmured, mostly to himself.

"Mmhmm," She hummed, "And aren't you happy to see us?" Hah, there she goes again, trying to guilt-trip him into complacency like she does the rest of us. It's good to know that even her future husband isn't exempt from her ever-changing whims and judging by the look on his face, he's willing to do anything right now to make it up to her.

"Of course I am. I deeply apologize if what I said has offended you." He apologized, bowing deeply and taking her hand to kiss it. What an annoyingly, stuffy gentleman.

But I digress.

"You should be, Redmond. They're just here to attend school. It's not like they're doing anything illegal. And it's not like we weren't informed. They're the prefects we were told about, obviously." Bluer smirked as he walked over to Jezebell and gave her a hug, "It's good to see you again, Jezebell. It's been too long."

She smiled and blushed redder than Redmond's rose, saying, "It really has. It's good to see you too, Lawrence."

"How sweet! Edgar! Why aren't you more like that? He's so good to her!" Deirdre accused. Everyone laughed around her except for Edgar. He looked absolutely mortified that everyone heard that.

"Really, Redmond. Lawrence and Deirdre are right. You really should learn how to treat a lady." Greenhill chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at Audrey, "Didn't your uncle, Viscount Druitt teach you how?" Ouch, low blow. Looks like Redmond didn't like that one much either.

"Jesus, Greenhill. Could you find something worse to use against me? I'm wounded." He grimaced, clutching his chest.

"Oh, would all of you just shut up already? Hurry and get inside. The sun is too bright out here." Gregory and I frowned at the same time, our mutual hatred of overly bright light showing. We glanced at each other and smiled just a little bit.

"I guess you two are right." We turned a little and saw Audrey standing next to Greenhill, holding his arm, "Let's go inside everyone. We're going to be late for class anyway if we stand out here talking for too much longer."

Redmond laughed and motioned for us all to follow, "Actually it's time for dormitory check-in, so all of you scatter off to complete your duties."

"YAY! I get to go with Edgar!" Deirdre yelled, latching herself onto his arm. She dragged him off at a breakneck pace and Redmond looked back over his shoulder, almost looking as if he was pleading with us to save him before he's killed by the girl.

To be honest, I felt bad for him.

Wait a minute, no I don't. He gets the loud. I'm perfectly okay with that.

Everybody left began to pair up and drift in the directions of their own dormitories. Gregory turned to me and held out his hand, saying, "Shall we go as well?"

"Probably." I replied, slipping my hand into his, "So what do you think?"

"About what?" He asked. His eyes slipped from the trees to the flowers to the ground, but never back to me which I thought was strange. Gregory may have his strange little quirks, but he always pays attention when he's spoken to. At least when it's me, anyway.

"About the four of us attending school here. It seems that some of the guys find our presence, well, less than pleasing." I answered after a moment. To be honest, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to know, but I think it's going to be the answer that won't get me ignored for rest of the walk. I wanted to know why he was being so distant. Why he couldn't stop glancing back over his shoulder like he's afraid he's being followed. Why he was limping. Why he seemed so ancient all of a sudden. Why, why, why.

But I couldn't ask and I think he knew that, which is why he didn't bring it up, but didn't stop either.

"I think it was a strange call on your aunt's part, but a necessary one. Things are changing. For good or for bad though, I can't quite say." He muttered, eyes darting up to hold mind for a spilt second before dropping again, "Only time will tell, but I don't think we can afford to wait much longer for the effects become unbearable."

"Gregory?" I asked, "What are you-,"

"Shh, look." He said, motioning to something behind me. I turned and saw a rather large, medieval-looking castle that was apparently my new home for the next year.

Violet Wolf, otherwise known as the Purple House. Home of all who are accomplished in the arts. Otherwise known as the House of Eccentrics.

Ah, it's good to be home.

"I think the bigger question here, though, is whether or not you're ready to spend an entire year wrapped up in things revolving around you." Gregory said quietly, moving forward to wrap his arms around my waist.

"Nothing has ever revolved around me unless it's something horrible. I'm not sure I want to be here if that's the case." I groaned, remembering everything that's gone wrong in my life that was all somehow my fault.

"Mmm. We might just have to fix that then." He murmured against my neck. I hummed in agreement as he picked his head up from my shoulder and motioned to the building in front of us. "I think that there are a few of our House that are quite content to just sit on the grounds and watch us. Look around and behind the gravestones."

I did and saw at least a hundred students all in Wolf purple and uniform black. They were watching us intensely, unable to move their eyes away even after they caught me watching them.

I used to think that eccentric was just a label applied to the House, but now I understand why it was used in the first place.

"Who's that coming down the walk?" I asked, watching the boy with the mohawk walk down the sidewalk.

"My fag, Cheslock." He answered quickly, just as the boy jogged up to us.

"Violet! I came to tell you that everyone's been reported here and ready for lessons to start. Can I tell them to go?" That boy - Cheslock - asked, seeking permission.

"Mmmhmm." Violet confirmed, nodding his head once. I knew that the dormitories were quite dependent on their prefect's, but I don't think I realized how much so. If they can't even start classes without their permission, then I wonder what happens when their fags can't find them. An interesting mystery, though one I don't want to find the answer for.

"Later Violet! See you at fag time!" Cheslock yelled, turning to run back into the dorm, but before he got more than ten steps away he turned back to face us, "Oh, and you're DeVair right?"

I nodded.

"Then I was told to tell you that you need to pick a fag tomorrow when all of the other girls get here."

I frowned at the news, "The other girls are arriving tomorrow? I wasn't aware of that."

"Yeah, we just found out a minute ago from the Dorm Warden." Cheslock shrugged, "It's all whatever to me, but apparently he thought it would be best for us to be informed so the same thing doesn't happen tomorrow. Which was probably a really good call, considering."

"I agree. You can tell the warden I will." I replied offhandedly, considering how exactly I was going to go about this. Then he left, for real this time and I turned around in Gregory's arms. "So how did you pick Cheslock to be your fag?"

He looked down at me (I still hate that even though he's the smallest boy in our group, he's still taller than I am) and seemed to consider something. After a moment, he found an answer, "I had a painting contest. Since introduction was an hour long, I gave them fifty minutes to paint whatever they wished and after that I judged them based on creativity, technique and overall ability."

"So basically, you just stole the categories from a normal art competition." I clarified.

"Not exactly." He smiled well, more of a smirk really, but I'll take what I can get from him, "I really just picked the one that spoke to me and his did. It really is that simple."

I thought about it for a moment and decided that I liked the idea. "Mind if I steal yours?"

"Not at all. You can have it." He replied. Then he bent down and whispered into my ear, "We should probably go in now, before the Warden has a fit. He already doesn't like the idea of girls here."

"How would you know? You haven't seen him since you've returned to school."

"Because he's standing out on the front porch glaring at us like he hates us."

I looked back over my shoulder and saw that he was indeed standing there. The poor old man must really not like us because if his scowl got any deeper, it would probably split his face in two. "Alright then. Let's go before both of us end up with y's."

Gregory didn't say anything. He just grabbed my hand and led me into the dormitory. As we passed the Warden, he looked at him and gave him his best vampire smile. The poor Warden shuddered and refused to look at us anymore.

We came across several Purple House students in the corridors, but the most anyone said was 'Good morning, Violet. Good morning, DeVair.', but that was fine with me. I wasn't really in the mood to talk anyway.

After five minutes of wandering around and climbing several staircases, he finally halted in front of a large, ornately decorated door. It was inlaid with amethyst, tanzanite, agate and purple sapphires all arranged in the shape to two wolves rearing up on their hind legs, with the crest of the House in the middle.

And while the door was beautiful, it really was nothing compared to the room it hid from the world. When Gregory pushed it open, I would have thought that we really were in a King's castle, judging by the decorations.

Everything was either purple or black and there were seating areas everywhere, with two beds on the opposite sides of the room, both of which looked very comfortable. There were two doors leading off to what I assumed were bathrooms. It even had a fully stocked kitchenette.

I was amazed, but I tried not to let it show on my face seeing as there really was only one place we could be. "Your room?" I asked.

"Yes." He smirked. It was obvious that he knew that I was impressed. "And yours now too, apparently."

"Really? They're going to allow a boy and a girl to room together?" Even for a private school with intense traditions and trust, it surprised me that they would go this far.

"They must have figured that we were to be trusted since we are both prefects." He answered, which made something related to sense when I thought about it, "Or they could have figured that since we're already betrothed that it couldn't do any harm either way." Which made even more sense. I was willing to put my money on that one.

"Seems sensible." I responded, going to one of the beds to collapse on it.

Gregory came to lie down next to me. He had his arm extended, so I laid my head down on it and snuggled back into my cloak. He pulled me over, closer to him and I sighed remembering when we used to do this as children. "Brings back memories doesn't it?" He asked, bringing the duvet up over the both of us.

"More than you know." I muttered, feeling my eyes begin to droop. I must have been more tired than I thought. "What time is it?"

"About 7:50." He answered, yawning.

"All of that only lasted about fifty minutes? Seriously?" I asked, slightly more awake than a moment ago.

"Seems like it. And you're in luck. As prefects, we don't have anything else to do today. Not even a group meeting at the Swan Gazebo." He smiled, closing his eyes, "So you can sleep as long as you want too."

"Then I'll take advantage of that and sleep until tomorrow." I said, smiling back at him even though he couldn't see it, "Tomorrow's going to be busy anyway." I yawned, unable to contain it any longer.

And I'm sure that he said something else, but it was lost as I let the blackness claim me.

~X~

I woke to someone banging on the door. I couldn't exactly say that I wanted to move from my current position seeing as Gregory made an extremely comfortable pillow, but that incessant knocking was starting to drive me insane. Anyway, sometime during the night, we had both shifted to make ourselves more comfortable. He was now lying on his back with his arm wrapped around my shoulders, holding me firmly against his chest and I, well, I was lying on his chest.

Yeah, I was really too comfortable too move and answer the door.

And then the knocking got louder.

"Violet! DeVair! Come on, it's already time for breakfast! You already missed early morning tea and orientation!" Cheslock yelled, never relenting with the banging.

I could feel Gregory shifting under me, so I knew he had woken up as well.

"Mmm. Morning, Avs." He murmured, sleep lacing his voice.

"Morning." I whispered back, trying to keep my yawns at bay.

"How long have you been up?"

"About as long as Cheslock has been trying to beat the bloody door down." I chuckled.

"We should probably get up now." Gregory sighed beginning the moves to get out of bed.

"What if I don't want too?" I asked, "What if I just want to stay here in bed with you for the whole day?" I rolled on top of him while I was speaking, holding him down while trying to make him reconsider his decision.

"You know I'd rather stay here too, but you also know we have things to do today." He smiled, relaxing back into the pillows for the moment, "Besides, you have to pick out your fag today. Aren't you the least bit excited about that?" And he had me just like that. I was extremely curious to see what kind of talent the new Violet Wolf girls were hiding.

"You're right." I conceded, "I am curious."

"Then we should probably go get changed and then go meet Cheslock before the idiot really does break the bloody door in." He laughed, gently rolling us over so that he was on top.

He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead - he was a lot more affectionate in private than in front of other people - and quickly climbed off of the bed.

"In that much of a hurry?" I teased.

"Trying to move away before I'm too tempted to just climb back into bed." He laughed while he rummaged through his luggage chest for all the proper uniform pieces.

I sighed before I did the same. We both showered and changed - in our separate lavatories thank you - in record time and then went to open the door that Cheslock was still beating on.

"It's about time you two!" He sighed exasperatedly, "I've been at your door for a good twenty minutes now! And look, you've made me miss my breakfast as well."

"Don't forget to mind your tongue whilst speaking to your betters, Mr. Cheslock. You're back at school now, so all of the normal rules and policies still apply." The Dorm Warden announced in passing as he made his way past our rooms.

"Sorry sir." He apologized right away, bowing low.

"And we'll feed you at the Swan Gazebo if you're really that hungry. You'll just have to wait one more hour." Gregory sighed, "So quit your whining. It's unseemly."

Cheslock's face brightened considerably at the mention of being fed and he quickly forgot that he was angry in the first place. Then he jumped up at the mention of the Gazebo.

"Oh yeah! You're supposed to pick your fag today, DeVair!" He exclaimed, "And you don't even have to worry about orientation since that happened during the early morning class time."

That's one bonus of sleeping late I guess.

"Come this way. I'll show you to the room all of the girls are in." He waved for us to follow.

We did and after a few minutes of wandering, he threw open the doors to one of the rooms. Inside were thirty or so girls from all of the six years. They all started as we walked into the room, but they quickly ignored Cheslock - because he was boring and they'd seen him before - and focused on myself and Gregory. We both had our hoods pulled down low over our faces, but I pushed mine back down, so I could better speak to the girls.

All of their mouths dropped open when they caught a glimpse of my 'unusual' appearance.

One of the girls tentatively raised their hand to ask a question.

"What is it?" I asked, not really caring if she was too nervous to speak or not.

She started shaking when she realized I was talking to her, but quickly recovered, asking, "Are you the girl prefect for Violet Wolf?"

I nodded.

"So you're going to choose one of us to be your fag?"

I nodded again, this time adding, "Yes and I'll be picking my fag based on artistic talent. Anyone who does not wish to try for the position may leave now."

No one moved, so I continued on. "You will have fifty minutes to come up with an idea and paint it. At the end of those fifty minutes, I will send you out into the hallway and pick the painting that I like the best. Do you all understand?"

They all nodded their heads furiously, but one girl held up her hand. I acknowledged her and she asked, "So we can paint anything that we want too?"

"Yes."

"Even you?"

"I suppose." I shrugged, not really caring either way, "No more questions? Good. Gather your supplies. Time starts now."

All the girls scrambled about to grab the materials necessary for their paintings while Gregory grabbed me and pulled me out into the hallway.

"Seeing as we now have a free period for a while, why don't we put that kitchenette to good use and have some breakfast." He smirked.

"I think I'd like that." I answered, bringing my face up to his and giving him a small peck on the lips. I slipped my hand in his and pulled him along back to our room, laughing the entire way there.

Breakfast was…eventful to say the least. He burned breakfast.

Twice, I might add.

Then I burned breakfast and no, I'm not even going to attempt to say how badly that turned out. In fact, forty minutes into the break we just gave up and decided that we were just going to have our fags make us something after we left for the Swan Gazebo.

At least the room didn't burn down, which considering what happened to the frying pan, was a very plausible idea.

When we finally decided to check the clock, we saw that forty-five minutes had gone by and if we didn't leave now, we were going to be late to our own deadline. So we decide that flat out sprinting back to the room would probably be our best option.

I opened the doors as soon as we were there and announced, "Time's up everyone. Put down your paintbrushes."

They all jumped again, but complied with the order. "Alright everyone, out." I commanded, "It's time for me to decide who will be my fag."

Every single one of them flat out ran for the door. I guess they just wanted me to hurry up and pick so they could accept their disappointment. "I'll see you in a minute, Gregory. I want to do this by myself." I said, turning to face him.

"I understand. I made absolutely everyone clear out of the room too so I could decide which I wanted without interference." He smiled, turning to leave, "I hope you find the one that resonates with you.

"I hope so too." I muttered to no one in particular.

Then I braced myself and began to wander through the thirty or so easels. Most were just nauseating. Images of graveyards, littered with debris and overgrown as though no one had set foot inside in years. Rotting corpses that were half-finished. Dead animals hanging from nooses. There was one that was simply a square connected to a half-moon.

Strange and somewhat troubling really. They weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination. Oh no, you could see the talent that got them into Purple House in the first place. And too be fair, I'm in no way able to condemn them for their artistic visions considering the art that I make on a regular basis, but these show signs of almost insanity.

None of the first thirty caught my interest at all. They just weren't original. It looked like they were trying too hard to please me and what they thought I would like instead of just painting what they wanted too.

Then the thirty-first easel, the one in the far corner that I almost missed, caught my eye.

It was of a battlefield. One littered with the corpses of several men, all surrounding one man. He was on his knees in the mud, with rain misting down around him. He also had a purple dahlia, the flower of the house stuck right in his cap. But that still wasn't the focus. It was his face. His face was shown in two halves. The first was normal. It wasn't beautiful, nor ugly, or anything special at all. Just average.

The second half though was the strange part. It was as ugly as it was beautiful. Strange as it was normal. It was of what should be considered a demon, but really was only a reflection. It was bloody and in pain with a grimace on both halves. And that's exactly what it was, two halves of a whole. One man torn apart by so much hate and pain and terror.

It was beautiful and ugly. There were no true lines, only indistinct colour changes. It truly looked as if someone had left the canvas out in the rain. The only thing that was actually in focus was the eyes of the man. His face was turned to stare at the heavens, but his eyes dropped and stared right through you.

There was no way that I couldn't pick this one. It had to be this one.

I looked for a name on both the front and the back. I found one in the very bottom corner. Luce.

I smiled at the fact that I had found someone with a name just as unusual as mine. This was her too. Luce was going to be my fag, so I grabbed the painting, making sure to hold the canvas so that the paint wouldn't smear and so nobody could see it.

When I left the room, I saw all thirty-one of the girls leaning against the walls discussing things like uniforms and cute boys and the like, but when they noticed me, they all shot up to attention immediately. They were staring at the canvas in my hands like they would shoot daggers through it.

I took a deep breath and decided exactly what I was going to say, "I saw many great paintings in that room. All of them were masterfully put together and skillfully created. However, one stood out above all the rest easily." I paused trying to gauge their reactions and found that all of them had tensed except for the one at the very end of the line.

She was extremely relaxed, almost unwilling to stand ramrod straight as a sign of respect, but she was looking at me with a cool intensity, an understanding, that none of these other girls could have managed if they tried.

This must be the girl called Luce.

"This is that painting." I announced turning the canvas around. Gasps rang throughout the girls and they all began searching for the girl who painted the masterpiece.

The girl on the end stepped forward and said, "That's mine. I'm Luce." She wasn't a giant by any means, but she easily towered over both me and Gregory. In fact she was about as tall as Greenhill. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail that went down to small of her back and her strikingly brown eyes held your gaze until you had to look away.

She wasn't beautiful by modern standards, but nor was she plain. She was just a girl who could fade into the background, but you'd never actually forget her.

Perfect for my fag.

"Congratulations Luce." I said, a small smile gracing my face, "You are the newest fag in the Violet Wolf House. And look at that, it's time for us to head to the Swan Gazebo. Follow me."

I turned, took Gregory's hand and allowed him to lead all of us outside to the Gazebo. Cheslock and Luce trailed behind us at a respectful distance. However, I could feel her eyes on my back, so I tugged a bit on his hand and pulled him to a stop. Apparently, she realized that we were stopping for her so she had her question out before I had even turned around.

"Are you two dating?" She blurted out.

What? I looked at Gregory and could see that he really didn't care where this conversation went and was content to watch the leaves dance in the breeze.

"We're betrothed." I answered, giving up on any help from my fiancé.

"Oh, I-I apologize for my intrusion." She stammered, face turning as red as a beet.

"It's fine. There's nothing wrong with a little curiosity." I replied, turning back round to continue to the Gazebo.

Gregory looked at me like I had lost my mind, but he quickly shook it off and started to walk with me. We'd barely gotten five steps before we heard a blood-curdling scream rip through the air. Both of us took off running in its direction without any prompting from the other.

It turns out that the scream was in the courtyard of the Blue House. Three girls were all standing huddled together shaking.

"What's going on/What happened?" Gregory and I asked at the same time outwardly calm, but panicking a little on the inside.

They jumped when they heard our voices and screamed again. This time, Bluer, Jezebell, Clayton and a girl I didn't recognize came bursting out of the Blue House and the girls screamed even louder. Eventually, one of the three looked up and saw the flowers on our lapels which labeled us a Prefect or a Prefect's fag and she got the other two to calm down.

"What happened?" I asked as soon as they all had calmed down completely.

"S-She's g-gone." One of the cried.

"Who?" Bluer asked, surveying our surroundings."

"Lauren! Th-They surrounded us a-and they t-took her." The second one stuttered.

"Who took her?" Jezebell inquired.

"I-I don't know. It was a man in black, that's all we know. He just appeared in front of us, which was why we were screaming in the first place, but the next second he was gone and so was Lauren." The only sane one of the group explained quickly.

I exchanged glances with the other three prefects and I think we all decided that this was probably just a prank from the boys, but we just didn't want to chance it.

"Don't worry, Andrea." Lawrence said quietly, "We'll find Lauren. All of us will find her."

"Really?" The girl called Andrea asked.

"Yes. Now take these two to your next class. We'll start looking around." He confirmed. After they had left he turned to us and said, "I didn't want to point this out in front of the girls, but look over there." He pointed to something off on the side of the courtyard.

Our eyes followed his finger and we saw a rather disturbingly large, dark stain.

Blood.

"I don't think this was a prank." Jezebell muttered under her breath.

"I agree." Gregory said, nodding his head along with his words, "This is a bit intricate for something as silly as a prank. I think we need to treat this as an actual kidnapping."

And just like that the first girl disappeared from Weston College. We were unaware exactly what was going on in our school until something terrible happened. The girl, Lauren, was indeed found before the moon rose that night.

But it was only her body that was found.

~X~

A/N: Well, we've had multiple things happen in this chapter and I'm quite happy with it. We've also had our first murder!

Yeah, I probably shouldn't be happy about things like that, but oh well. I hope you enjoyed.

Love,

Tainted Fated Demise


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